The Cultural Center of the Philippines is proud to present the cross-media work of artist-musician Datu Arellano in a solo exhibition entitled Tahigami Music. It will open on 10 October at the CCP’s Bulwagang Fernando Amorsolo (Small Gallery).

Tahi is the Filipino word for stitch and gami (kami) is Japanese for paper. Combined they form Tahigami, a word the artist made up, which means stitching on paper. Datu Arellano began Tahigami as a method of drawing. After a few years in development, tahi to him is about connecting, discovering common threads, ﬁnding intersections and meaning, forming relationships. Gami (kami) may as well be any conceptual or actual surface, ground, or plane, and not limited to paper. From an obsession with a three-sided polygon that began in 2011, the series has evolved into a framework for creating visual and musical compositions.

The Tahigami Music exhibit in the CCP will be composed of three main works, "3-Blossom Automata", "Supercluster No. 3" and the "Tahigami Music Videos, Series 1 and 2." The piece in the center of the gallery sets the tone of the exhibition, set-up so that the audience is invited to sit in the middle of the installation to listen and contemplate. Surrounding them are three digital musicians (computers), "3-Blossom Automata", programmed to play endless and unpredictable melodies generated from the geometry of the blossoms assigned to them. "Supercluster No. 3", on the left side of the gallery, is a work of thread on canvas, with electronics. One side has the ordered, intentional (although semi-random), and conscious. The other side exhibits the chaotic, accidental, and subconscious. Finally, "Tahigami Music Videos, Series 1 and 2" is a series of 6 videos from earlier incarnations of the series, first began in 2014. These videos demonstrate the basic premise/concept of Tahigami Music and show how the artist first made the musical compositions, and then interpreted them visually.

Tahigami Music will be on view from 10 October to 10 December 2017. Viewing hours are from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, or until 10pm on days with evening performances in the CCP Main Theater.